The less neutral net
Myrmidon
Baron von PuttenhamCalifornia Icrontian
The FCC voted on the whole double-dipping 'fast lane' stuff today.
Guess what they picked. Good coverage on ars.
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Of course they did. Anyone who expected differently doesn't really know our country or its history.
It should be all kinds of illegal for your ISP to throttle data you request unless the provider pays up. That'd be like your landlord charging the pizza delivery guy an elevator fee, and telling him that if he doesn't like it he can use the stairs.
Internet access needs to be reclassified Title 2 already.
The thing that really grinds my gears is the fact that Wheeler is claiming their rules ban "fast lanes" while leaving them more or less allowed (the only ban on fast lanes they put in place, from what I've read, is that an ISP cannot give one of it's own subsidiaries a "fast lane").
Small consolation, but a big deal in the scheme of things. This was one of the big things everyone was worried about because it could have been a complete and utterly disastrous nightmare at the consumer level.
The overall ruling still stinks however, but as @midga said, completely expected.
Remember, (especially after the recent SCOTUS campaign finance ruling), the US is an Oligarchy.
Second small consolation is that this vote was not to put these rules into effect. It was to release this proposal and open it up to public comment. You can bet the big Internet giants are going to loudly oppose this proposal. I doubt it will do anything, but there is at least a chance these rules could be scrapped or amended before their actual adoption...
Sad thing is, if this does go through and I am "forced" into a slower speed, Time Warner will (probably) still keep increasing my costs to do it.
Of course they will, they have no incentive not to since there is no significant regulation and little to no competition. AT&T did the same thing to me for years, until it finally reached the point that I held my nose and went to Comcast since I could at least get more than 1.5Mbit/s for the price gouging.
A classic from the Icrontic archives: http://icrontic.com/article/a-net-neutrality-history-lesson-how-us-telecom-became-such-a-trainwreck
I think that we should all [this content was deemed harmful or unsuitable for public viewing]. That'll show 'em!